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Reds Hall of fame pitcher ready to help coach Dragons

Dragons new pitching coach promises to take laid-back approach.

Lisa Powell Tom Browning, a Reds Hall of Fame pitcher, is the 2012 Dayton Dragons pitching coach.

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By Sean McClelland, Staff Writer 11:06 PM Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tom Browning has no intention of acting like a drill sergeant in taking over as Dayton Dragons pitching coach from Tony Fossas, who has been assigned to rookie-level Billings (Mont.).

Although perfect once himself, he won’t expect his charges to be.

“I’m really laid back,” Browning said Thursday at the Cincinnati Reds’ winter caravan stop at Fifth Third Field. “My job, in my opinion, is to kind of pick them up when they fall and keep them level-headed when they’re going good.

“I really enjoy watching these kids kind of figure it out on their own.”

Dayton’s roster won’t be set until late March, but Browning — who pitched the 12th perfect game in major-league history for the Reds in 1988 — already knows some of his pitchers. He’s spent the past two seasons working with prospects in Arizona as they entered the Reds’ system.

“I hate to see him leave the young guys in Arizona because he was so good there,” Reds GM Walt Jocketty said. “But he deserves to move up.”

No promises: With limited roster turnover last season, Dayton won a franchise-record 83 games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Jocketty was noncommittal as to whether such stability might now be the norm.

“We thought it was important (last year),” he said. “We had young guys who needed to stay at this level, but we also thought it was important to try and put our best effort into winning. This is a great franchise for us. We want to continue to provide a good product here.”

Rude awakening: Outfielder Ryan LaMarre, a second-round draft pick from Michigan who played for the Dragons in 2010, didn’t know how good he had it here until he played at high-A Bakersfield, Calif., last season. Let’s just say the Blaze are not threatening to break any sellout records.

“I kind of assumed every place was like this,” said LaMarre, likely ticketed for double-A Pensacola (Fla.) this season. “Then I went to Bakersfield and you could hear cellphones going off.”

New strongman: The likely Dayton first baseman will be Robert Maddox, who crashed 16 home runs in 63 games for Billings in 2011. Maddox, from the Cleveland area (Euclid), was drafted by the Atlanta Braves after high school (Villa-Angela St. Joseph’s) but opted for Ohio University, where he led the Mid-American Conference in home runs with 21 in 2010 and set a school record with 74 RBIs in a 55-game season, the fourth-highest total in MAC history.

Roster moves: Left-handed pitcher Luca Panerati, an international free agent signee from Italy, and outfielder Josh Garton, a 12th-round pick in 2009 from Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee, have been released by the Reds. Both were Dragons.

Another local stop: The Reds’ caravan returns to Dayton on Sunday for an appearance at the Air Force Museum from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

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